I talked to Rich today and suggested that he register and start posting here. I have been bugging him about this for a while and I think today he is going to register just to get me off of his back! He hasn't even seen the New Year's Eve pictures yet so I think that may entice him to come over to the board and register. I told him that there are a lot of people here who would love to talk with him, so if he doesn't register sometime today, I will REALLY bug him until he does.

Being a Bridesmaid several times in many bands, I know, somewhat , how Rich feels. He is truly an underrated bass player and you pick any of the 3 lps and there is great chemestry between Jimi and Rich's playing. Greatly missed and that is the ugly story of Rock and Roll. But, in this case, Rich got the chance to be a part of a great music wave and when the Romantics get into the RR Hall of Fame, he will get in there too. Dee Dee Ramone was booted out of the Ramones and being inducted to the Hall of Fame helped to bring it back for him. That is until he ended it.

I can't wait to read what Rich has to type and being a bass player myself I would love to know the geek info. What bass and amp did you use on the 3 lps and stuff like that. Those records have a great bass sound on them, very driving and pseudo-punk ala McCartney. Just great.

I would love to see Rich on the board. I only met Rich once, at the '99 Detroit Music Awards, and he was a very friendly guy who was happy to chat with me (and sign my 'Strictly Personal' CD sleeve). I distinctly remember one thing he told me about being at the awards ceremony: "I'm just proud to have been a part of all this." He struck me as a sincere, humble guy who obviously doesn't have any hard feelings about losing his spot in the band. Oh, and Rob, I too planned to chime in about how much his vocals are missed -- you beat me to it!

Yup, there are quite a few of those great older tunes that I'm sure aren't played live anymore by the band because Wally or any of the others can't properly do the vocals (some were originally done by Rich and some Jimmy).

On the first album Rich used a Fender Precision bass and a Sunn amp. On the second album he used a Musicman bass through a Hi Watt rig. You will have to ask him what he used on the third album. I think he stuck with the Hi Watt amp but I'm not sure about what kind of bass he used.